Snowshoes, skis, skates - means to appreciate winter's threat

(Sources: Outdoor Ice Skating in Canada; Peace River Record; Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre files; The Canadian Encyclopedia; The Play and Playground Encyclopedia; Town Life, Don Wetherell and Irene Kmet; The Virtual Ice Skates Museum; Florilegium Urbanum; About.com, Mary Bellis; The History of Ice Skates)

Part 2

Skates, we pondered a while back, but intend to do so, again. This time with a broader, longer stride. It is always well to be aware there are many possible uses for a particular item and from whence they came.

Your scribe is thinking of the War of 1812 and the snowshoes the 104th New Brunswick Regiment of Foot wore on their 700-mile, freezing, snow-burdened trek from Fredericton to Kingston. You will recall, the men used their webbed footwear, not only to more easily trudge through the resisting white flake flak, but also to use as shovels to move the darn stuff to make temporary shelters along the way, when no other was available.

Skates may not have the same modification facility as the snowshoe. For certain, there are many types of skates, or rather many purposes to which skates are applied and a history behind their coming to be.

Recently, we saw the return of “big-time” hockey and with it hockey skates – the guys wending their way up and down the ice trying to manage the route of a puck and the guys in the crease with different appearing skates attempting to prevent its flight into their net. Interesting though, all the while the “big-timers”, for the most part, were absent from rinks and TV screens, “amateur-timers” of all ages – from new to the blades to old-timers who grew up on them – continued to show up and have fun skating and playing the game for its sake alone.

Hockey is not the only skate-related endeavor, nor hockey skates the only type of skate. While some of the hockey types took a sabbatical, the figure, some call them fancy skaters, continued to go to the rink each day to practice and prepare for their challenges. Unlike the hockey skate, the figure skate – boot and blade are differently designed to fulfill their needs. Each, though have their edge.

This scribe skated on both in the early years – not well – but on both, having graduated from the bob-skate when my parents watched me shuffle, snow-suit encapsulated along the outdoor ice. Skating on figure skates felt better – more natural using them as hockey (boys’) skates. This I did on a rink, which in the off-ice season was a red-clay tennis court, transformed as temperatures and the season allowed.

The aforementioned experiences, no doubt, remind one of either their own experiences or those told around the dinner table or a warming fire.

Ice-skating is far from something new. In fact, it has been part of the Scandinavian culture for thousands of years beginning with the use of animal leg bones, such as those from reindeer, elk or cow, as blades. Crude they may have been, but they worked once one side was flattened and holes drilled to attach to the skater’s feet with leather laces – the leather, perhaps, coming from the very animal whose leg bones were used as blades. The Dutch have a long history on ice-skates introduced by the Vikings (remember the Birkebeiners) in about 800 B.C. There, however, is some controversy about the introduction of ice-skating and by whom. Was the ingenuity – resourcefulness – Viking or Dutch?

Nevertheless, we are told the Dutch word for skate is “schenkel”, which means leg bone. Furthermore, about 1500, according to Mary Bellis, it was the Dutch who used a narrow metal double-edged blade to a wooden platform eliminating the need for poles to help propel the skater as the blades now used afforded the skater the facility of pushing and gliding with their feet – the Dutch Roll.

In 1180, a book was published in which was described boys in London, England, playing on ice with bones strapped to their feet and using poles to propel them. Originally written in Latin by William FitzStephen, secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket and translated by John Stow. In part, it reads: “(…) when the great fenne or moore (which watereth the walles of the citie on the North side) is frozen, many young men play upon the yce, some striding as wide as they may, does slide swiftly (…) some type of bones to their feete, and under their heeles, and shoving themselves by a little picked staffe, doe slide as swiftly as birde flyeth in the aire, or an arrow out of a crossbow. Sometimes two runne together with poles, and hitting one the other, eyther one or both doe fall, not without hurt; some break their arms, some their legs, but youth desirous of glorie, in this sort exerciseth it selfe against time of warre (…)”.

Florilegium Urbanum suggests many examples of crude ice-skates with blades made from the “shin bone” were found at archeological sites “dating from the 8th century to the close of the Middle Ages [1066-1485]. The Museum of London has a set of bone skates possibly contemporary with FitzStephen.”

It wasn’t until the 13th century bones gave way to metal blades. According to an article in The Play and Playground Encyclopedia, “the oldest ice-skate in existence today was found in an excavation in Amsterdam and is believed to have been made around 1225. Another account suggests, “The oldest pair of skates known date back to about 3000 B. C., found at the bottom of a lake in Switzerland.” The Amsterdam skate had a wooden platform attached to an iron runner blade that was curved like a prow at the front and right angled to the rear.” A pair of similar-looking skates – wood platform and metal runner – may be found in the Museum’s Diane Gayton Collections Room. Grace Hanna donated the skates. In 1930, the parents of husband, Samuel, a Peace River pharmacist, forwarded them from Belfast, Ireland.

Metal blades – what have they meant for skates and skating? Where shall we start? Well, as mentioned earlier, for this scribe it was the soft aluminum bob-skate variety, which was the introduction to skates and gliding with their help and a helping parental hand, across natural outdoor ice. More sophisticated models emerged, incorporating blade and boot especially designed to complement one another. The complementary version, whether for recreation or competition, meant better control and safety. But, there remained room for improvement.

It wasn’t until 1914, when John E. Strauss, a Minnesota blade maker invented the steel one piece, closed toe blade. The design and construction made the blades lighter and stronger, which allowed for a greater manoeuvrability and ease of figure skating and playing hockey. Prior to that, in 1859, a Canadian, James Whelpley, developed a more comfortable skate better suited to wearing for longer periods. This increased the possibilities for skate use. “People could now enjoy skating more for pleasure.”

In the next instalment of Snowshoes, skis, skates – means to appreciate winter’s threat, we will look into the various skates and blades designed for specific skating purposes, such as figure, speed, long distance, and hockey.

REMINDER: Snowshoeing at the Museum, Family Day, Monday, Feb.18, 12:30-1:15 p.m. and 1:30-2:15 p.m. No fee, but pre-registration is required. There is a limited number of snowshoes for each session. Families are encouraged to participate. To pre-register: 780-624-4261 or museum@peaceriver.net.